Colombo. India has once again backed Sri Lanka, which is grappling with its worst economic crisis, by reaffirming its full support for expediting the International Monitoring Fund’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry said that India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has confirmed to her Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabri that India will fully support the island nation’s consultations with the IMF, especially those made to expedite the EFF. On request.
Sitharaman and a top-level Indian economic delegation met Sabri at the IMF headquarters in Washington on Monday.
“Sitharaman assured Sabri of India’s full support for Sri Lanka moving forward and emphasized India’s commitment to fostering the growth of the economy in Sri Lanka and forging a strong bond between the two countries,” the ministry said in a statement. is.”
Sri Lanka has requested for a Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) with the IMF and the world financial body in turn informed the country’s finance minister that India had also made representations on behalf of Sri Lanka to the RFI.
“It was informed that the IMF would consider the special request made notwithstanding the out of the norm circumstances for issuance of RFI,” the Finance Ministry said.
Meanwhile, Sabri met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Washington.
The IMF has commended the island nation for the steps already taken by Sri Lanka to ease the financial situation and assured its full support. The ministry said there has also been a positive response to expediting the process of strengthening the support extended to Sri Lanka.
Faced with a burning crisis with dollar reserves and inflation, Sri Lanka is completely dependent on the support of neighboring countries such as India and the IMF’s support to prevent the worst economic ramifications that cause social and political turmoil in the country. The bailout is dependent on the package.
With only $1.6 billion on hand, the country’s external debt obligation for the year is over $7 billion. For the first quarter of 2022, India has provided about $2.5 billion to Sri Lanka in currency exchange and other aid including food, fuel and medicines.
—AnyTV News
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